Iraqi forces arrested dozens of men allegedly linked to the massacre of 1,700 soldiers after retaking Tikrit in 2015

Receive the latest national-international updates in your inbox

In this April 3, 2015 file photo, an Iraqi man prays for his slain relative, at the site of a mass grave, believed to contain the bodies of Iraqi soldiers killed by Islamic State group militants when they overran Camp Speicher military base, in Tikrit, Iraq, 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad. Iraqi officials say the country has executed 36 men on Aug. 21, 2016 convicted of taking part in the Islamic State group's massacre of hundreds of soldiers in 2014.

Iraq on Sunday executed 36 men convicted of taking part in the Islamic State group's massacre of hundreds of soldiers in 2014, officials said.

The men were hanged at the Nasiriyah prison in southern Iraq, according to provincial Gov. Yahya al-Nasiri. A Justice Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters, confirmed the executions.

ISIS captured an estimated 1,700 soldiers after seizing Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit in 2014. The soldiers were trying to flee from nearby Camp Speicher, a former U.S. base just outside the northern city. Shortly after taking Tikrit, ISIS posted graphic images of gunmen shooting the men dead after forcing them to lie face-down in a shallow ditch.

The Speicher massacre sparked outrage across Iraq and partially fueled the mobilization of Shiite militias in the fight against ISIS, a Sunni extremist group. The militias now rival the power of Iraq's conventional armed forces.

'I Had To Do It': Dylann Roof's Confession Played at Trial

A taped confession played for jurors at Dylann Roof's trial shows the accused killer of nine people laughing and confessing to the murders. "I did it," he said in the tape played on Dec. 9, 2016. "I had to do it." (Published 3 hours ago)

Iraqi forces arrested dozens of men allegedly linked to the massacre after retaking Tikrit in 2015 with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes. The men executed on Sunday were sentenced to death by an Iraqi court earlier this year.

The head of the provincial council in Salahuddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital, criticized the judicial process, saying some of the men executed Sunday had been tortured to extract confessions.

Some of them "were not even present at the scene of the crime," Ahmed al-Karim told The Associated Press. "We support the death penalty for those who committed crimes," but "the use of violence and torture (in Iraqi prisons) should be investigated."

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has attempted to fast-track the implementation of death sentences following a series of large-scale bombings in and around Baghdad in recent months.